Broken Link Checker

A broken link (also called a dead link) is a hyperlink that no longer works. When clicked, it leads to an error page (usually a 404 Not Found error) instead of the intended content. Broken links can be internal (pointing to pages on your own site) or external (pointing to other websites). Our free 404 checker scans your pages to identify all types of broken links.

We recommend checking for broken links at least once a month. However, you should run our dead link finder more frequently if you: publish content regularly, recently redesigned your website, use many external links, or link to time-sensitive content (like event pages or promotional offers). Large websites with hundreds of pages should consider weekly scans.

Yes, broken links can negatively impact your SEO in several ways. They waste your crawl budget (the number of pages Google will crawl on your site), create poor user experience (which affects engagement metrics), and can cause link equity to be lost. While a few broken links won't tank your rankings, a site riddled with 404 errors signals poor maintenance to search engines.

A 404 returns a proper HTTP 404 status code, while a soft 404 returns a 200 (success) status code but shows "page not found" content. Soft 404s are more problematic because search engines might try to index them. Our broken link checker detects standard 404 errors. For soft 404s, you should check Google Search Console or ensure your server returns proper status codes.

It depends on whether the broken URL has backlinks or traffic. If external sites link to the broken page or it still receives traffic, use a 301 redirect to a relevant page to preserve link equity. If the page has no backlinks and minimal traffic, you can either redirect to a relevant page or remove the link entirely. Never redirect all broken links to your homepage - this creates poor user experience.

Link rot (or link decay) is the gradual accumulation of broken links over time. It occurs naturally as external websites change, delete content, or go offline. To prevent link rot: run regular broken link audits, prefer linking to stable sources (like official documentation or archived content), use the Wayback Machine to save important external pages, and update content periodically to refresh links.

Not all redirects are problems, but they should be reviewed. Redirect chains (multiple redirects in sequence) slow down page loading and dilute link equity. Temporary redirects (302) used for permanent moves signal the wrong intent to search engines. When possible, update your links to point directly to the final destination URL rather than relying on redirects.

Ideally, you should have zero broken links on your website. However, the impact depends on the percentage of broken links and their importance. A few broken links on a site with thousands of pages is less concerning than multiple broken links on a small site. Key pages (like your homepage, main navigation, and high-traffic posts) should never have broken links.